The Theran Eruption

[helens_daughter]

Thera, also known as Santorini, is the southernmost of the Cyclades Islands, and sits like a croissant in the Aegean some seventy miles north of Crete.  It is a favorite among photographers, and its blinding white buildings and blue rooftops can often be seen in travel brochures hugging the sheer cliffs against a brilliant blue sea and sky; it

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[gmcdavid]

The Theran eruption and tsunami did not bring an end to Minoan civilization, but certainly weakened it, and brought about a slow decline. The Mycenaeans, who were themselves affected by the catastrophe, invaded and occupied Crete more than a century-and-a-half later.

A few years ago I was reading about the Black Death (1340's AD) in Ireland. The disaster was actually much harder on the English colonists than on the native Irish; the English had a more complicated, and hence more vulnerable infrastructure. For the next 180 years the Irish were able to push the English back, until by 1530 effective English rule was restricted to a small region around Dublin.

In the same way the Theran eruption may have given the Mycenaeans the big chance to assert themselves in the Aegean, at the expense of the Minoans. Eventually they were able to capture Knossos.